Canon has shown with the G1X that a collapsible (pancake) zoom lens can be manufactured which produces excellent image quality from one end of the zoom range to the other, so it is obviously not a physical impossibility. I had high hopes for the G1X when it first appeared on the market, and would have purchased one in a heartbeat were it not for the puny optical viewfinder and the camera's slow AF and shot-to-shot time. I like the fact that its fixed lens would keep me from starting another lens collection which is something I would have to resist with the NEX 6. I have just been unable to accept the above limitations of the Canon, however, and if further tests of the 6 with the 16-50mm lens confirm the IQ shown by webgeek's postings, then it's going to be my next camera. The other zoom lenses available thus far for the NEX series are simply so big as to make the camera/lens combo unpocketable even in a jacket.